Little Runaway
by MPettigrew
Summary: Co written with xocrazililkelox...A young girl comes to Tulsa searching for her father. When she finds him, will he turn her away, or will she be accepted?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All characters belong to S.E. Hinton, aside from the obvious.

Chapter 1

I had turned sneaking money from my parents into an art. No, not my parents. My mom and her _boyfriend_ George. He wasn't my dad. He didn't want me in his life, and frankly, if he dropped dead right before my eyes I would probably have just laughed. He definitely wasn't what I would call a good father figure. Not that my own dad was much better. In all my thirteen years I could count the number of times we had spent together on one hand. Maybe George worked for a drug dealer, but I didn't know much about my own father to say any better about him. My mom never tried to hide the fact that Dad was a no good drunk, but she never tried to protect me from the fact that she and her boyfriend, who I lived with, were the same.

Every time I went into Mom and George's stash of cash I knew that I was asking for it. They must have known that I was taking it too, but I'd never stolen more than a couple bucks at a time, and by the time they would have realized it was missing more money would have been put in anyway. George knew well enough not to lay a hand on me if he found out anyhow. Knew that I would have no problem squealing to the cops about his middleman work if he ever touched me. The money wasn't really his anyway, it belonged to the guy he worked for, so I guess that's why he practically lost his mind when he found me standing in his closet, with about fifty-dollars in one hand, and the shoebox of money in the other.

"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded, ripping the box from me. I held on tight to the fifty I had counted out though; he wasn't going to try and take it from me if he thought he might tear it.

I made a move towards the door, unable to speak for fear of the wrong words slipping out.

George couldn't seem to find the right words either. Instead, he screamed and shoved me against the wall.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled. Though he had threatened me practically everyday he had known me, George had never so much as laid a finger on me. Until then.

I was screaming every curse word I knew at him, and he was screaming back at me about being a "goddamned dirty little thief." Didn't help matters much when Mom came to the room, and started hollering at me along with him. How she knew what he was mad about I'll never know, but everything was happening so fast that I didn't even think about what I was saying.

"I could go to the cops about you! You could go to jail! If I were you-"

"If I were _you_ I'd keep my mouth shut!" George interrupted.

"I don't care what you'd do! I don't have to listen to you!"

"He's your father Darcy!"

"No he's not!" I don't know how many times I had tried to tell her that I didn't consider him my father. She never listened.

"Well your own father doesn't exactly want you!" She snapped. "He says you're a mistake! Is that who you want to call your father? Someone who considers you a mistake?"

"Why not?" I asked boldly. "I call you mom."

That earned me a slap across the face. I'd say I deserved it, if it hadn't been for the fact that I was right. She called me a mistake all the time, when she was sober, when she was drunk, when she was high. Not like it was a big secret or anything. When you have a kid at fifteen, it isn't usually something you planned.

Mom wasn't done with me after the slap though. She had more to say.

"If you think your father's so swell then you can just go and live with him! See if he wants you anymore than we do!"

"All right!" I said, heading out of the room and down the hall. "I'll go! Can't be much worse than here."

George snorted, Mom laughed.

"Go on then." She had a smug grin on her face as she held the front door open for me. "Tell him I say _howdy_."

I hesitated a moment. She was really letting me go. The only reason I had been taking the money in the first place was because I was fixing on running away, but it didn't feel too great having my own mother telling me that she didn't want me.

I knew that if I left the house she would never take me back. But if I stayed, I would only be giving her something to hold against me later on.

The second I was out of the apartment I felt the door slam shut behind me. So this was it, I was on my own to find my father. Didn't know if he wanted me, didn't have anything except the clothes on my back, and the fifty bucks at hand.

First thing I did was head over to the bus station. First thing I had thought of was to get some food, but didn't need George remembering that I had his money. It would be best just to get out of town as fast as I could.

Practically missed the last bust of the day to Tulsa. It was boarding when I got there, and the stupid ticket holder didn't want to sell a kid my age a pass out of town. I had to convince him that I was only going to visit my sister overnight. Would have told him the truth and said it was my dad I was going to see, but lying just seemed easier.

The ride to Tulsa wasn't that long, but it felt like forever in the dark. There wasn't much to look at, but I couldn't risk falling asleep. I passed the time trying to think of ways to locate my dad. I didn't have any clue to where he lived, but remembered from the last time I had visited with my mom that he lived in a big old place with a lot of people hanging around. It wasn't really a visit that we had be there for. It had been about three years earlier, and during one of those times where Mom and George had decided that they were splitting up for good. Mom needed money for drugs or booze or something, but went to Dad telling him she needed money to pay for things for me. She couldn't get anything out of him though, and that was the last I had seen of him.

I was his kid and all, but I wasn't sure how keen he would be on having me stay with him. I figured I could tell him that I had money, and that all I needed was a roof over my head. From what I could remember he had a ton or people hanging around his place all the time. If he didn't have room for his own daughter, then it would just be pathetic.

When we got into Tulsa I couldn't find anyway to find him. Name wasn't in the phonebook, and I didn't know the city very well. Just when I was beginning to think that I would never locate him, I heard a couple of fellows, maybe nineteen or twenty, say my father's name.

My ears perked at the sound of it, and I listened to them just long enough to hear that they were headed over there.

"Hey," I called to them. "I'm trying to get there myself. Would you mind telling me how?"

The two boys looked at each other. I thought that maybe they weren't used to having someone so much younger trying to boss them around, but then the shorter of the two spoke.

"What's a kid like you doing looking for a place like that?"

"It's my dad's."

They looked at each other again, this time in disbelief. I wasn't going to stand around all night and watch them gawk at each other though, so I simply told them that I needed the directions again. I don't know if it was my charm or my use of the F-word three times in one sentence that got them to point Dad's place out for me.

Next thing I knew I was on a city bus, ridding towards my dad's place. The guys had told me that I would know the place when I saw it, and believe me, I did. It looked just like I remembered. A bunch of drunk people hanging around outside, and not young teenaged drinkers either. Dirty looking cowboys and bikers, people like that. But I didn't care about them. I was too excited about finally seeing my dad.

I walked up to the front door, and if anybody thought I was at the wrong place they didn't bother telling me. I ended up having to pound on the door before anyone could even hear me over the loud music, but finally the door opened, and there he was, standing right in front of me.

I flashed my crazy grin, trying to look confident, and said, "Howdy Pops."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers -I do not own any characters S.E Hinton owns the outsiders.

Authors note - Please read and review. The italics are her thoughts.

Chapter 2

"My life style ain't kid friendly," my father said, looking at me and leaning against a wall with his arms crossed over his chest. I had just told him everything that had happened and what had brought me here.

"That's okay, I'm not a kid. I can take care of myself, all I need is a room." I was trying to per sway him into letting me stay with him.

"I don't have much rooms available," he informed me. Some invite.

"Please, I can't go back there," I begged, sounding pathetic and desperate.

"I guess you can room with me …" he drifted.

"Gee ain't that kind of you," I said sarcastically and rolled my eyes.

"Don't get mouthy kid," he ordered.

"Sorry " I muttered. I might not have known him very well, but he was already doing a pretty good job of scaring me.

"This ain't gonna be some free vacation though," he told me. "You have to work for your room and board."

_Jerk off,_ I thought to myself.

"Sure," I said aloud, "but I ain't being no bar slut."

"That's not what I had in mind." A sly grin spread across his ugly face. "You like horses kid."

_He calls me kid one more time and I'll hurt him_.

"Yeah sure," I answered.

"I store horses for my jockeys to ride and you can clean stables and take care of the horses."

_Oh joy cleaning horse shit._ That would be fun.

"Deal." I answered.

Finally getting a good look at him I decided that I was glad I got the looks from my mom. This guy was out of it. He didn't seem like the smiling type which was a good thing because his two front teeth were and it was kind of creepy when did smile. My own looks aren't so bad I guess, with my blonde hair and brown eyes. I see flaws in myself but what teenage girl doesn't?

"So kid how old are you?" he asked taking, a swig of his beer.

_Well Mom was right about the alcoholic part._

"Thirteen. You keep calling me kid. Do you even know my real name?" It gets irritating being called a kid when you've been pretty much raising yourself.

"Yeah of course I know my own kids name. Its Jenny." He answered with a familiar confidence. There was that grin again.

_Nice try asshole_.

"Its Darcy," I told him.

There was an awkward silence for a while, before I decided to bring up the one question I had been dieing to ask since I got there.

"How did you and my mom meet?" I asked him.

"At a bar," he answered.

"How romantic," I said, letting out a fake sigh. "Weren't you a little young to be in bars then?"

"Aren't you a little young to be in one now?"

I just shrugged.

"I didn't ask to be a father," he said bluntly.

"Then you won't mind if I call you Buck, will you?"

"Call me what you want, but remember that I really wasn't planning on having you."

"Well you should've thought of that before you got handsy with my mother," I remarked coldly.

"Listen girlie you better learn how to keep your sarcastic comments to yourself," he told me. I just rolled my eyes at him as he went on about not going downstairs. I guess he figured that I wasn't interested in going down there anyway, because he soon left me, slamming the door behind him as he left.

The only thing I could say about his place was that it was small. There was small living room, a small kitchen, one bedroom and a bathroom. Both were small. It was dingy and ugly. I couldn't complain though. I wasn't excepting it to be a palace and it _was_ better then being at my mothers and her boyfriend's place.

But one bedroom; gee this was going to be fun! 


End file.
